Celebrating Life through Sun Salutations

by: Teresa Long

Our body posture can be an indicator of how we are feeling. We sit with our backs straight when we are alert; we slouch when we are tired, and so on. As we bring awareness into our bodies, we tend to change postures so we can get more comfortable. In turn, as we change postures it results in a spontaneous shift in our awareness. This feedback loop between body awareness and body positioning is part of the practice of yoga.

Yoga can revitalize your mind as well as your body. In general, yoga includes two of the major components of balanced fitness: flexibility and strength. If you add Sun Salutations to the mix, you incorporate the third major component of balanced fitness: cardiovascular conditioning.

Sun Salutations, known in Sanskrit as Surya Namaskar (pronounced Sir-yah- Namah-skar), are a series of movements that flow with the breath. They help strengthen the heart, improve circulation, and lengthen and strengthen all major muscles in the body. Sun Salutations have been described as the most complete exercise available.

Radiate Your Essential Self

Even if you do not have time to work out on a regular basis, performing Sun Salutations every day will bring vitality and aliveness into your life. The twelve poses included in the Sun Salutation series are designed to awaken the connection between the sun and your agni, or inner fire. As you kindle your inner fire, you can radiate your innate love and happiness out into the world.

As we perform Sun Salutations to celebrate the sun, we also celebrate life in general as well as our inner life and our connection with the universe. We celebrate life because the poses in the Sun Salutation series represent the full experience of life, with all its highs and lows, and beginnings and endings. We celebrate our inner life because we are ultimately beings of light, like the sun, and performing Sun Salutations rejoices in this aspect of our being. We celebrate our connection with the universe because the sun is the source of all life on this planet.